Industries
Life and Society
Government and Politics
Groups and Organisations
Religion
Important NPCs
Major Geographical Features
Nygeia Hills: These foothills of Gol Algor are home to numerous halfling and gnomish settlements. Unlike the people of Gol Algor, these settlements are less open to visitors. Founded by halfling refugees from the old Atalan Empire, the inhabitants for the most part take care to conceal their homes from view and tend to live in underground burrows, mainly living from tubers and mushrooms. While they do practice some above-ground agriculture and animal husbandry, they do their best to make these as unobtrusive as possible, and many humans unfamiliar with plants have walked straight through one of their fields without realizing it!The Rainbow Plains: Vast fields of many hued flowers that can grow nowhere else dot these plains. In late spring, their seeds are scattered by the wind and shimmer like all the colors of the rainbow. They are frequently blown across the entire Lake of Dreams, and frequently cause hallucinations in those who breathe them in. A large monastery dedicated to Ygreb, the Lord of Divination, can be found here, and its monks and clerics gather as many seeds as they can for use in their divinations. The surplus is sold to merchants, and the "rainbow dust", as it is called, can be bought even as far away as some Flannish cities...
Recently, the League of Armach has sponsored an archaeological excavation at the center of the Rainbow Plains. No one except for them is sure what exactly they are trying to unearth there, but the large number of League soldiers accompanying them has made many observers very, very worried.
Important Towns and Cities
Alanthos (Large City, 357,550): During the day, this city looks rather shabby - most citizens live in poor huts made out of straw, stones, and mud, and while a certain rustic charm cannot be denied, visitors used to the splendor of cities like Pharsus will be in for a rude shock. Its people seem to be content to live as simple farmers, shepherds, and craftsmen, and seem to be utterly devoid of any ambition.This impression changes once the visitor falls asleep when night falls. For all who sleep in the city's vincity share one vast, communal dream. Their dream-selves "awake" to find themselves in a city that adheres to the general layout of daytime Alanthos - but everything is on a much grander scale. Where a small hut stood, a gigantic castle now soars. Where a well yielded small amounts of water during the day, a fantastic fountain sprinkles at night. Everyone in nightside Alanthos is transformed into a gallant knight, a mighty wizard, or a beautiful noblewoman - or at least it seems that way. Each night, they experience fantastic adventures, and even if their dream-selves are killed, they awake with nothing worse than being bathed in cold sweat in the morning.
It is known that sometimes, in times of emergencies, the dream-selves can actually pass into the waking world for a short time, thus contributing greatly to the city's defenses.
Ascenon (Small Metropolis, 734,221): This city is known for its unusual caste structure. At young ages, children are put through a series of tests (scholastic and physical) to determine their aptitudes. The most intelligent become Philosophers, who rule and administrate the city, and advance the arts and knowledges of its colleges. They do not have any money, but may freely take what they need from all businesses of the city - though any Philosopher who abuses this privilege will be subject to censure from his peers. The strongest and most aggressive ones become Warriors, who defend the cities from its enemies and police its inhabitants. The rest become Commoners, who tend to all other tasks that need to be done to maintain the city. This does not mean that the Commoners have no control over their lives - with enough hard work they can achieve a high level of prosperity. It is just that political influence is completely denied to them - and strangely enough, most citizens seem to be content with this arrangement, giving food to rumors about large-scale magical mind control being used in this city...
Cadriculan (Large City, 320,521): Cadriculan is dominated by the sprawling Temple of the Nameless God, where veiled and hooded priests pray day and night, without ceasing their prayers. However, these prayers are not supposed to draw the deity's attention - to the contrary, they are intended to keep the Nameless God slumbering and imprisoned beneath the city, for the priests teach that a terrible calamity would befall not only the city, but the entire world if the rituals were to stop and that terrible entity to awaken.
It is known that large tunnel systems are under the city, but where they lead, no one knows or at least does not admit to, for the priests have outlawed going below the ground floor on pain of death.
Epholos (Small City, 70,442): High over the Lake of Dreams a huge cloud permanently hangs in the sky. This is Epholos, a permanent cloud settled by cloud giants long ago and permanently anchored here. The giants trade with the humans below - smaller solid clouds move down to the lake surface in a regular pattern, and humans and their ships can catch a ride to the city above. The giants trade large quantities of raw resources for giant-sized fruit and their famous wine, and many merchants have managed to make a tidy profits from such ventures. Others have been involved against their will in the many intrigues among the giant families - feuds that can become lethal for human outsiders.
Hyra (City, 120,423): This unusal city is inhabited by women only, and men are prohibited entry. Hyra maintains its population thanks to a spring with mystical powers - any woman who drinks from it will become spontaneously pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby nine months later. Most of the children born through this process are female, and the rare male babies are either abandoned or killed outright. While it isn't illegal for the citizens of Hyra to travel abroad to other cities and have children in the traditional way, the girls born of such a union are seen as somehow inferiror, and will have to face prejudice from the other citizens.
Murab (Large City, 476,227): This city, renowned for its high-quality wine, has been ruled by a long line of monarchs for centuries. Or at least, that's the official story - for only the city's nobles and a small number of dedicated servants are allowed to actually see the monarch. The peasantry only sees the king shortly after his coronation, when he is paraded through the streets of the city - and even then he his hidden behind several layers of clothes and veils. After this ceremony, he is spirited away behind the palace walls and never seen again by the common people.
Naturally, there is considerable speculation about who - or what - the "Veiled King", as he is commonly known, really is. Some claim that the royal line died out centuries ago, and that the person paraded through the streets is actually a low-ranking servant who plays the part. Others claim that a horrible disfigurement runs through the royal family, which it wishes to conceal. Others still whisper that the monarchs are not, in fact, humans at all, but some terrible monsters.
Ultimately, though, the citizens of Murab don't seem to care about who really rules them, as long as they are ruled competently and are mostly left to their own devices.
Nesep (Small Metropolis, 633,217): Where the Gawaris River flows out of the Lake of Dreams, a fertile river valley sits in the middle of the scorching desert. Here civilization thrives in the shadows of gigantic pyramids, relics of a long gone empire.But not quite as gone as many people had thought, for fifty years ago, grave robbers disturbed the grave of the ancient mummy Amenenu. After slaying the intruders, he ascended to the surface world and was incensed to find that the old ways had been forgotten, and after raising many of his fellow mummies from their uneasy sleep, as well as a host of lesser undead, he set out to recreate the ancient kingdom of his memories, with him at the top.
He succeeded, after a fashion. The city of Nesep, formerly a sleepy trading town, was conquered and parts of it sorcerously transformed to resemble the buildings of old. Those who pledged their loyalty to Amenenu have been rewarded and installed as the new nobility and priesthood of the realm. Others have been enslaved, and Amenenu has sent many raiders to the surrounding countryside to acquire more. Merchants are guranteed safe passage, however, and many have taken the opportunity to trade their goods for ancient magical secrets that are now abundant here.
Ouneirotur (Metropolis, 1,531,785): Most cities have powerful rulers - after all, the weak rarely survive for long in this job. But Ouneirotur is the only known city that is ruled in person by an actual deity - the demigod Ouneiros. He has ruled this city for uncounted millennia, and allowed little change in it. The whole protectorate of Ouneirotur is encircled by a massive wall that is intended to keep out polluting foreign influences, and trade is officially permitted only at a few, isolated gates. The citizens of this realm are relatively well fed and content with their lot, but have little chance to change their station in life.
Pharsus (Large Metropolis, 2,341,354): Pharsus was founded as the eastern capital of the Atalan Empire, and served in that function for many centuries. Its many monuments and public buildings still serve a remainder of those bygone days. But when the Atalan Empire started to crumble and financial and military aid for the provinces dried up, the governor of Pharsus claimed that the current Atalan Emperor was a traitor, and declared himself to be the new Atalan Emperor. The rulers of Pharsus maintain this fiction to this day, even though the Atalan Empire itself is long gone and the influence of Pharsus doesn't reach far beyond its rather small protectorate. The current Emperor, Barusus IV, is considered to be eccentric even by his allies, and mad by most other people.
Important Sites
Numerous ruins dot the landscape, beckoning the bold explorer to seek them out for fame and fortune.Basram: Basram, the fabled City of Glass, was a wondrous place to behold in its prime. Its mages had become adept at growing a special type of crystal to enormous sizes. They used this crystal to create enormous buildings of sizes never seen since, and it is said that only the legendary First City surpassed Basram in its splendor.
Yet the wizards ruling Basram became proud, and explored dark magics better left untouched. Their rivalry became ever fiercer. Finally, one of these mages tried a desperate gamble to come ahead in these struggles, and opened a large gate to the world of Yethrod.
What exactly he had hoped to accomplish with this feat is unknown. What is known is that hundreds, if not thousands of the abominable destrachans and the avian yrthak poured through the gates. Their savage sonic shouts resonated perfectly with the crystals that were the very foundation of Basram. The city, which had been built over hundreds of years, was destroyed in a single night, leaving behind the area today known as the Sea of Shards, a wasteland full of tiny crystal splinters.
Tower of Horag: The tallest building in the known world, many who see its silhouette from afar first mistake the Tower of Horag for a mountain until they can discern its regular shape. It reaches a full five miles above the plain, and its base is four miles across. It is unknown who - or what - built this tower, but it is clear that its architects created it for beings of far greater than human frame. Many sections have partially collapsed, but some ancient magics keep it standing. In its interior are many magically heated and illuminated gardens, which allow its many humanoid and monstrous inhabitants to survive. Entire clans of goblins, kobolds, and worse live within the towers confines without ever having set a foot outside of it.